Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Lightweight Deer Rifle

Adding a lightweight deer rifle. Already own .243, .260, .308. This rifle has a 20" barrel. 7mm08 or .270? I will load the 110Gr TTSX for either. Which will perform best?

Yes

Haha...

"Perform best" is a broad statement. If you mean absolute speed, you will likely get another 125-150fps or so from the .270win over the 7mm-08 with 110gr bullets and short barrels. Blast would be worse with the .270, as it is burning more powder. Efficiency points toward the 7mm-08 in a 20" barrel. I will add that I get right at 3,200fps from the 110TTSX from a 20" 7mm-08 Model 7 using RL15. It kills stuff just fine.

I converted a Rem M-7 in 243 to a 358 Winchester. It is wonderfully light and in our thick brush will work for either deer or elk. I shoot 225 Nosler partitions.

Had a 7mm08 with a 21" barrel, just made a .300 Sav. with the same length. The 7 is a real handy little rifle.. Haven't done much with the .300.. I am sure it will be a winner for brush hunting..

If your 300 Savage is a bolt action it'll reach out well beyond brush range given good handloads.

130 TTSX at around 2900 should go well beyond brush range.

1) Give us your definition of "Lightweight".
2) What range do you intend to use this rifle?

I know the .300 Sav. will reach out, but I have serious long range rifles.. But that ability to reach across a field is nice to have as one steps out to the brush to an opening..

Light weight starts with an action that comes in at 26 ounces or less. Maybe even 20 ounces. Add a carbon fiber stock of 24 ounces or less and a 26" barrel of 40 ounces or less and you have the start of a light rifle with good ranging qualities.

6 lbs 12 oz scoped 7mm08. 7 lbs scoped .270. Possibly out to 375 yds.

I would lean toward the 270 past 300 yards but the 7 will get er done too so it's up to you.

In a 20 inch tube, I'd be more inclined to the 7/08. That said, I'd be inclined more to the 7/08 in a 22 inch tube as well.

The 7mm-08 lends itself to a short action, which saves a bit more weight, and burns ten grains less powder. I have both rounds, and like both.

My "light" rifle is a Kimber 7mm-08 Montana, that just got a new Pac-Nor barrel. It works very well, and is quite light.

Kimber 84L Montana 270 and chop the barrel 2 in., I'll be getting one in the near future....

Everything else is on the .308 case. The SA is going to be lighter than the LA.

7-08 in the Kimber Montana. Done.

I have a 240 WBY. mag. Ultra lite with a Stainless Steel fluted barrel and a carbonate stock just under 6 lbs including scope. shoots a 5 shot sub .50 group. bad part is the cost of the brass:(

Moses,
The .270 will always be faster with same length barrels.

Tikka T3 Light or Superlight
7mm-08 or 270 Winchester,whichever one you like the best.
With the Superlight about 7 pounds ,loaded and scoped(with a scope that weighs 12 ounces or so)
knocking a couple of inches off the barrel will probably only reduce the weight 3 ounces or less,muzzle blast will be worse,with more than likely a little less velocity.
Portability wont be increased greatly with a 20 inch barrel vs a 22 inch barrel in my opinion.
But if that floats your boat go for it !

With the Tikka you will have a light rifle ,smooth bolt action,accuracy,3 or 5 round detachable Magazine and a great trigger.

I agree.

Seems like a lighter rifle in one of your current chamberings would make sense. Simplify loading, and not as likely to run into a Travis situation with the wrong ammo. 100 TTSXs are available for the 260. 110 ttsxs and 130 ttsxs for the 308. The difference in the field between those, and 110s in the 7mm-08 or 270 would be non-existent.

the one with the krieger barrel will shoot the best groups. the cooper mannlicher will look the best .

280 AI, affectionately referred to as The Beanfield Rifle by Kenny Jarrett.

The rifle I am looking to add is the little Savage 16 Ltwt Stainless. The short actions I mentioned are in Mannlicher stocked rifles with 18.5"-20" barrels. I already own them and none of them are very light.

Sounds like you need a .257 Roberts.

Don't see that in stainless on their site. There was a review on a blued 6.5 CR a few years back that looked good, though I'm not crazy about a plastic guard assembly on a $991 rifle.

The CR seemed to be less affected by the shorter barrel than some other rounds.

Model Seven CDL in 7-08

Weatherby Ultralight or Remington SS Mountain Rifle.

Lightweight DEER rifle? Marlin 30-30, from the 80's or earlier.

I'd get another 260 considering your prerequisites, since you already have brass/dies.

If you want a different chambering just because, how about 6.5x47 or 6.5creed?

My favorite is the .257 Roberts

The 6.5s might be better choices. 7mm-08 has served me very well on deer. I don't really see how you can go too wrong.

Savage makes the AxisII,Youth/Compact,20"bbl.243Win.Wife got for Christmas...Crazy accurate,way fun to shoot,might be just the ticket.They come in .243 260 7-08 308/..ScottyO.

I just picked mine up yesterday in 308. It's 5.5 lbs on my scale. Adding a picatinny base, PRW rings and a Weaver 3.5-10 Tactical scope brought it to 6 lbs 14 ounces. I haven't shot it. As you can imagine, at that price point the stock is pretty flimsy but there is plenty of room around the barrel channel to keep it from contacting the stock. The magazine catch is a little flimsy plastic tab but seems to function fine. If it shoots like a typical Savage, it will really be a good buy. I wanted it for a mountain rifle, something light and accurate that I won't mind if it gets beat up a little.

Weigh it again after you've shot a box through it. It'll probably be seven pounds with the copper fouling.

Is that tab part of the magazine or the bottom "metal"? Also, is it attached to whichever by a screw or an integral part of the unit?

Honestly, I see little need for detachable mags on hunting rifles. They can get lost, are expensive to replace, and many of them require you to remove them for reloading. In the case of the Savage, I'd have preferred a blind magazine.

In a bargain rifle like the Ruger American, it's no doubt cheaper to mold the feed lips into the mag than dink around with the feed rails, but the Savage, at least the wood-stocked one, isn't cheap.

I have several of those made in the 1970's. The lightest is 7 lbs naked, the ones with pistol grips are 7.25 lbs. You are looking at 8 lbs or more with optics.

Now the 1958 Winchester 94 I own is only 6.75 lbs, but it can't easily be scoped and is still nearly a pound heavier than my lightest bolt gun is with optics. My heaviest bolt rifle is only 7.5 lbs including glass.

It uses the Axis mag. The mag is metal but the bottom is polymer with an integral tab molded in to the bottom.

So when the tab lets go, it's new trigger guard time. Or duct tape. Polymer is tough. It'll likely hold a long time.

Can you add rounds while the mag is in the gun?

Tab is on the mag so if it breaks, buy a new mag from Savage for $40.

You can't load multiple rounds easily from the top with the mag in. It's a center feed double stack mag. The round is always coming in centered which makes it difficult to top load like a traditional double stack. It holds 4 rounds.

No scoped bolt gun carries as nice as a 94 Winchester and I don't give a damn how light it is. No need to scope a 94 if you can see and know how to shoot with an aperture sight either. Adding a scope to a 94 ruins it's superb handling qualities, weighs it down and looks as goofy as Herman Munster riding a tricycle.